Officials battle through "samurai" diet

Overweight local government officials in Japan have slimmed down with a three-month "samurai" diet, soldiering on despite a fellow samurai's death. The mayor of the city of Ise in west Japan and six officials joined forces as the "Seven Metabolic Samurai," after Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" movie, to fight the so-called metabolic syndrome -- excess belly fat, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. The program took an unexpected and unfortunate turn when one of the samurai, a 47-year-old city official, died in August from heart failure while he was jogging, a spokeswoman for Ise's public health department said, confirming earlier news reports. But the remaining samurai continued with the plan, which involved eating healthy food and exercising. When the program ended Thursday, Mayor Takao Morishita had shed 5.6 kg (12 pounds) and trimmed his waistline by 5 cm to 85 cm (33 inches). At least two other officials also succeeded with the diet, while the city is waiting to hear results from the others. "There was a time when things were rough, but I was able to reach my goals," the mayor said on a panel that showed his diet results. "I want to make sure that my weight won't bounce back." Metabolic syndrome has become the new buzzword in health-conscious Japan, where nearly 30 percent of Japanese adult males are overweight, according to a government survey from 2005. Two male officials in the health ministry kept blogs earlier this year to show their efforts in combating the syndrome, while tummy-tightening briefs and "fitness phones" targeting fat-fighting middle-aged men have come on the market.

Drunken priest punches cop, jailed

A Mexican priest briefly ended up behind bars after punching a policemen who caught him driving drunkenly through the streets of the northern city of Monterrey. Priest Manuel Raul Ortega, who was not wearing clerical dress but was clutching a prayer book when captured, launched himself at the traffic cop who pulled him over earlier this week. "The individual became very violent because they were going to tow away his car. He attacked a policeman and was taken away," said transit department spokesman Hector Lozano on Thursday. Ortega's papers identified him as a priest. He was released a few hours after his arrest after paying the fines for his offenses. Monterrey and Mexico City are in the midst of a tough new drive to clamp down on widespread drunken driving after tequila and beer-fueled lunches and parties.

Russian serial killer says murder is like love

A Russian man accused of murdering 49 people asked a court on Tuesday to add another eleven victims to his tally, and told a jury when he first strangled a man it was like falling in love for the first time. Supermarket worker Alexander Pichushkin, 33, has been branded the 'chessboard murderer' by Russian newspapers because he hoped to put a coin on every square of a 64-place chessboard for each murder. "A first killing is like your first love. You never forget it," he said from a cage in the courtroom, after explaining how he started killing at age 18 with the murder of a classmate. Pichushkin said he had suggested to his classmate that they kill someone, but when his friend refused, "I sent him to heaven." He then smirked at the jury. "The closer a person is to you, and the better you know them, the more pleasurable it is to kill them," he said. "In all the cases I killed for only one reason. I killed in order to live, because when you kill, you want to live."

Shock burns cable thief beyond recognition

A thief in Germany was charred beyond recognition by a 10,000 volt electric shock when he tried to steal a live copper cable, authorities said Monday. Police in the western city of Duisburg found the 32-year-old man's blackened remains by a set of cable cutters and pile of non-live cables he had already stolen. Only because one of his hands survived incineration were officers able to identify the man as German of Kazakh origin. "His fingerprints were already logged on police files," a local police spokesman said. "The force of the shock was so great that the hand was severed from his body."

"Gift rage" lands worker in court?

A disgruntled Japanese worker smashed up his employer's office in a fit of pique after his boss ignored his gift of jelly desserts, a national paper said on Thursday. An Osaka court heard that the 31-year-old man, who worked for an online clothing sales company, had given the company president a box of jellies in the summer as a mark of gratitude after landing the job, the English-language Asahi Shimbun said. Many Japanese maintain a tradition of sending gifts to important business contacts in summer and winter. When the employee realized that his boss had left the box of jellies unopened under his desk, he smashed 22 computers in the office with a truncheon, the paper said. No one was injured in the incident. The man pleaded guilty to charges of obstructing business with force, the paper said. "I wish the company president had cared a little more," the paper quoted the employee's lawyer as saying. Prosecutors said the employer had been too busy to open the gift, the paper said.

Cops go out on a limb for ampu

A man whose amputated, embalmed leg was sold at a North Carolina auction will get the limb back over the objections of the buyer, who wanted to include it in a macabre, money-making Halloween display, police said on Thursday. The dispute over the leg John Wood lost in an airplane crash three years ago was apparently resolved when police decided the buyer, Shannon Whisnant, had given up ownership by calling authorities and asking them to take it away. "The simple fact is that he said he didn't want it," said Capt. Tracy Ledford of the Maiden Police Department, who chuckled his way through an interview about the case that has made for lively gossip in the small North Carolina town. "The guy don't have a leg to stand on," Ledford said. "He's not getting the leg back." Wood, 42, kept the embalmed leg because he wanted it to be cremated with him when he dies. He stored it in a small barbecue smoker in a Maiden storage unit, but failed to keep up the unit's rent, police said. The storage company auctioned the smoker on September 25 and Whisnant was the buyer. When he found the leg, he called police and said he "wanted to get rid of it," but later decided to make some money from it, Ledford said. "He wanted to show this thing at Halloween and charge money to see it," he said. Whisnant told local media he was willing to go to court to keep the leg and planned to charge admission to see it -- $3 for adults and $1 for children. "It's a hell of a conversation piece," he told the Greenville News. "I bought it. It's mine."

Bar gossip leads to nasty surprise for couple

A Czech couple who decided to take a DNA test to squash persistent pub gossip and prove that their 10-month-old baby was their own got a nasty surprise. The couple, from the southeastern town of Trebic, had some doubts about the child as her hair was blonde and they both had dark hair. Fellow drinkers' suspicions got on their nerves. But the test showed neither of the parents had the same DNA as the baby, Czech news agency CTK reported Wednesday, suggesting a mix-up at the hospital. Authorities were looking into the case.